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American Morning

'Minding Your Business'

Aired February 24, 2004 - 07:22   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: What a furor over Halliburton contract in Iraq, now a criminal controversy.
Andy Serwer minding your business checks in for the first look today.

Good morning.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you.

HEMMER: Let's talk about Halliburton.

SERWER: Yes, this is a story that is not going away. The Pentagon has turned this into a criminal investigation. We're talking about Halliburton, the giant oil services company, allegedly overcharging the U.S. government $61 million for gasoline brought into Iraq from Kuwait as opposed to Turkey, which might have been cheaper. That's part of the whole controversy.

As of last night, the company said it had not been informed of the probe. But the Pentagon confirms the investigation has become a criminal one. Halliburton saying that would be routine in this situation. Well, we'll see.

They have a new commercial out which says, a TV commercial where an actor says, "When I joined Halliburton, I knew I was going to be working on some big things." Big, indeed. They've got about $3.1 billion of work they've done for the U.S. government in Iraq just over the last six months.

HEMMER: Part of the problem with Turkey, these Turkish drivers went on strike six months ago.

SERWER: Yes.

HEMMER: They're worried about their own security and at one point they said we're not going any further south than Mosul.

SERWER: I mean in Halliburton's defense, there is a tremendous amount of back and forthing here and understanding exactly what the situation there over here in the United States is extremely difficult.

HEMMER: Security costs are big time in Iraq today.

SERWER: That's right.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired February 24, 2004 - 07:22   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: What a furor over Halliburton contract in Iraq, now a criminal controversy.
Andy Serwer minding your business checks in for the first look today.

Good morning.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you.

HEMMER: Let's talk about Halliburton.

SERWER: Yes, this is a story that is not going away. The Pentagon has turned this into a criminal investigation. We're talking about Halliburton, the giant oil services company, allegedly overcharging the U.S. government $61 million for gasoline brought into Iraq from Kuwait as opposed to Turkey, which might have been cheaper. That's part of the whole controversy.

As of last night, the company said it had not been informed of the probe. But the Pentagon confirms the investigation has become a criminal one. Halliburton saying that would be routine in this situation. Well, we'll see.

They have a new commercial out which says, a TV commercial where an actor says, "When I joined Halliburton, I knew I was going to be working on some big things." Big, indeed. They've got about $3.1 billion of work they've done for the U.S. government in Iraq just over the last six months.

HEMMER: Part of the problem with Turkey, these Turkish drivers went on strike six months ago.

SERWER: Yes.

HEMMER: They're worried about their own security and at one point they said we're not going any further south than Mosul.

SERWER: I mean in Halliburton's defense, there is a tremendous amount of back and forthing here and understanding exactly what the situation there over here in the United States is extremely difficult.

HEMMER: Security costs are big time in Iraq today.

SERWER: That's right.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com